Predictable staffing reduces operational costs.
The new monitoring system had a waterfall effect that did more than reduce patient length of stay. With the cumulative data collected and analyzed from every department and health center, Steward Health Care was able to adapt its length-of-stay model to staffing as well.
One of the greatest operational expenses for health centers is the clinical workforce. Clinicians are often stretched thin while organizations do their best to schedule not just the right number of staff, but also the right areas of expertise.
The data-driven staffing model took the guesswork out of scheduling. Now, Steward can dynamically staff every unit of every floor of every hospital. Administrators know in advance which patients are coming and which clinical capabilities they’ll need to have on the floor for an optimized workforce.
"We are now at a point where we can predict with a 98% accuracy our census out to a week — seven days — and continue to improve beyond that," says Tortorella.
With an optimized workforce, Steward Health Care is able to meet the needs of the communities it serves more effectively.
Rethinking patient management
Together with Insight, Steward Health Care created a pervasive platform for intelligence and decision support, which helped the organization rethink its approach to patient management and transform the way it does business.
"Steward Health Care has really been at the forefront of using technology to make healthcare better," says Dr. Joseph Weinstein, chief medical officer for Steward Health Care.
By embracing the cloud from the onset, Steward Health Care was able to leverage the elasticity and cost savings of a more agile environment — and strategically apply powerful analytics to every part of the business, from volume prediction and staffing to billing and claims.